why you should care about. this is why you should care only. more support from the u.s. and the e.u. as the. rest of western regions. lethal drugs to change the face of capital punishment in some us states the return of. firing squads. only partly. leading we hear from the experts who describe prisoners will face when the old methods. together with our allies we will complete our mission by the end of this year. and a future. government of afghanistan facing a looming threat. in washington post pull out security deal

following thirteen years. early friday evening here in moscow international with me. and welcome to the program ukraine's president has signed a law that grants amnesty to all demonstrators detained during the riots in the country but on the condition the protesters leave the streets and government buildings they've been occupying meanwhile the opposition leaders are to meet the u.s. secretary of state and the e.u. foreign policy chief on the sidelines of a security conference in munich over the riots now spreading wide across ukraine's west it seems unlikely more talks will bring any solutions. reports from one of the hotbeds of the unrest. this is the regional administration building event at sun

card skin western ukraine where at the till a week ago the regional governor had his office but as you can see just liking kiev's there is now a giant barricade surrounding the building with snow tires and planks of wood radical and and he russian this is the heartland of nationalism where anti on the cover of sentiment runs deep and that's the way an italian and her comrades want to keep it the twenty nine year old entrepreneur has been here since the building was overthrown she says work can wait this is more important it is better to have no president than to have you know called which but with the opposition as fragmented as it is that tully is the first to admit no yanna coverage could well mean an alkie of the problem is that we don't have any person to replace him and we will need to take someone from their position which won't be easy the sentiments blown

across central and western ukraine where regional offices are being picketed and seized by protesters. the misa a group of right wing radicals some wearing masks stormed the municipal building chanting we have the power they used fire extinguishers and wooden sticks against police. in china gov demonstrators set up barricades made a vehicle parts and sacks of snow they demanded police leave the building. similar scenes played out and she can see where protesters trying to set light to furniture they smashed windows and threw stones at security forces. the anger has moved even further westwards. and sure nuff ski protests and ukrainian hymns while ignoring the governor's attempts to disperse them. in nevada from coffs those now laying siege to the municipality building have forbidden any symbols or sentiments of the ruling party. they claim it goes against the will of the ukrainian people no

one knows where the head of the administration is there are parts of this building that are still functioning for example the day to day running of the city but on a political level everything is come to a standstill all this process might. lead to door division of the country of course a result in some arab spring or in the long term perspective. despite their criticism of you on the coverage these protestors have nothing better to offer policia even a front costs western ukraine. well one ukrainian protester who had gone missing for more than a week has turned up alive dimitri blocked off claims he was abducted and tortured now while the police already investigating this case you can head over to r.t. thought com for the very latest news coming straight out of here.

joining us here on r.t. international the gas chambers electric chairs firing squads all seem to be all things of the past could soon be making a comeback in parts of america the lethal injection drugs used to carry out the death penalty are in short supply and bomb makers in some u.s. states are looking to return to the old methods some of which critics say verge on torture more now with artie's more important. in just the first month of twenty fourteen six executions have already been carried out on u.s. death row inmates however the shortage of drugs coupled with an increasing concern surrounding the efficiency of lethal injection has prompted lawmakers in some states to push for the reintroduction of long abandoned torturous methods in missouri some officials have raised the notion of rebuilding the state's gas

chamber and also proposed making firing squads an option for executions death by god has also been proposed as an option in wyoming meanwhile in virginia there's been a push to make electrocution an option so why are u.s. states now advocating to bring back these relics of the past in recent years european drug makers have stopped selling their drugs to prisons because they say they don't want their products to be used to kill prisoners as a result many u.s. executions have been delayed in other cases the use of new drugs for lethal injection caused slow painful deaths lasting over twenty minutes richard dieter of the death penalty information center says old execution methods being advocated are prone to even more mistakes you can imagine with a firing squad you know. only partly. leading it you know these are things that are also prone to to error to pain to to you know

from the public and so states changed to protect the death penalty to lethal injection so to go back would certainly jeopardize their whole purpose of carrying to carry out executions some us states already provide alternatives to lethal injection alabama arkansas florida kentucky oklahoma south carolina tennessee and virginia it minister the electric chair if requested by the defendant delaware new hampshire and washington state allow inmates to choose hanging while arizona. and wyoming legally allowed gas chamber executions as an alternative currently lethal injection remains the only enforceable method of execution in the us but if states get their way somewhere down the line death by firing squad or electric chair may become the new norm in america reporting from new york. r.t. . still to come on the program international. the arms race

splashing out on a joint development of new drones despite civilian casualties being increasingly caused by the unmanned war machines. to afghanistan we go as time ticks away before nato troops pull out of afghanistan and the u.s. is growing increasingly frustrated with the country's government is still refusing to sign a security pact which would permit american soldiers to remain in the fragile state . explains the absence of an agreement could leave afghanistan rather to what is a major taliban resurgence. after thirteen years in afghanistan washington is counting down together with our allies we will complete our mission bear by the end of this year and america's longest war will finally be over. but ending a war isn't the same as winning one when it comes to afghanistan peace is far from certain and the past ten years there were not able to build afghan security for

forces to be able to face the challenges and this country and to be able in the future to confront the challenges and the taliban forces and the taliban fighters and al qaeda forces and the taliban have been active in the past two weeks alone the group has staged numerous attacks in kabul kandahar nimrods helmont and nanga har in fact ministry of interior incident reports reveal clashes with the taliban in a most of the eleven provinces bordering pakistan the group also controls several districts in parwan just a short drive from the country's capital some provinces are believed to be controlled by shadow governments that answer directly to the taliban on that if any with not the taliban run the area the district government is just me but there is no real security and it could get worse a classified american intelligence assessment warns that the initial objective in

afghanistan removing the taliban and disabling al qaeda as operations in the country could fail and that the taliban could return in full swing by twenty seventeen the u.s. wants some troops to remain in the country by the pentagon's logic the pursuit of terrorists is this based in the region same goes for u.s. drones and without american help the afghan army could collapse but the u.s. first needs the afghan president to sign off on a key security pact something he has been refusing to do so far. now our position continues to be that if we cannot conclude a bilateral security agreement promptly then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post twenty fourteen future in which there would be no u.s. or nato troop presence in afghanistan there's also the issue of talking with the enemy the consensus seems to be that the afghan war could only end in a negotiated settlement with the taliban not a military victory but that's proven elusive the taliban are internally divided and

the rift between kabul and washington has reportedly empowered hardline commanders who want to keep on fighting at the expense of those who support peace talks the u.s. war has succeeded in toppling the taliban regime and many afghans have seen their lives improve but those gains could easily be lost depending on who wins control over afghanistan a country that's once again could be up for grabs reporting in washington for our team i'm lucy catherine. and president karzai is demanding washington and has peace talks with the taliban as a condition for signing the security deal jerry vandyke is a terrorism consultant and a former prisoner of the taliban he says the u.s. is unable to contain the group which continues to bolster its ranks. it is a continuous war for over twenty years they have continued to fight some of them and since the american invasion in october fifth two thousand and one they have if anything increased their their ability to attack their holding for the united

states even with its search in two thousand and nine in the us why president obama has not been able to really curtail the taliban they are as strong as ever as committed as ever and i think this is one reason why there is such difficulty throughout nato throughout the west figure out how to leave afghanistan what to do with the taliban. washington has spent billions waging the afghan war and is still spending despite the mission winding down since two thousand and one it has cost the u.s. taxpayer just under eight hundred billion dollars and here there are still some bills to come in twenty fourteen every american soldier serving in afghanistan will cost an average of two point one million dollars and withdrawing isn't cheap either the u.s. has decided not to ship back more than seven billion dollars worth of equipment so that will all have to be destroyed it's also believed a brand new military headquarters built in twenty thirteen at

a cost of thirty four mil will probably not be used and that now needs to be demolished as well and according to former british s.a.'s officer richard williams the u.s. drawdown means the afghan government will have no choice but to reach a deal with the taliban. president karzai. those who have teamed with him as they approach these next elections. and his supporters and those who he is supporting in the elections need to do a deal with the taliban going forward in twenty fifteen the taliban in certain provinces the conflict provinces in the south certainly will be the dominant political element and as the president goes forward there's going to need to be an accommodation with them so this is a political gesture and so yes he is taking risk with the lives of his own soldiers the afghan army and afghan police are all fighting hard at the moment in these conflict provinces yes he's taking risks but it's for

a higher purpose and the higher purpose is clearly some form of political solution with the taliban and the people of afghanistan and no strangers to the threat of drone strikes after a quick break here on r.t. international we report on paris and london plans to switch gears in the joint development of the war machine. to boyd alone more than somewhere around two hundred children for all for them they also found that child abusers child abusers got access to those kids'. hallways common phenomenon and what i'm saying is overall it's an amazingly rosy picture in that adopted kids international as well as domestic are treated better than regular kids growing up in untroubled biological families in the united states

. over. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy albus. role. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our crafts to mco we've been hijacked lying handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once it's all just my job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem trucks rational debate and a real discussion critical issues facing or not to find

a job ready to join the movement then walk a little bit of. dramas that can't be ignored to. stories others refuse to notice. the faces change the world writes never. filled picture of today's news. on demand from around the globe. up to the tee hee hee. it's ours international life from moscow britain and france are set to make new technological and financial efforts to develop the latest line in lethal cutting edge drones the production of the new prototype drones will not begin for at least

three more years the two countries want their own alternative to the infamous u.s. made unmanned planes despite the controversy surrounding the use of drones both sides insist they are essential for their militaries however one antiwar activist told r.t. the u.k. and france are just following america's policies and devaluing the lives of support it's. good becomes very easy to sell a war based on drones to the domestic audience because there's no soldiers there's no airmen there's no pilots put in their lives at risk. this makes drone warfare. fairly acceptable to most countries in terms of the collateral damage yes we have we have missiles there do kill those in the surrounding area and i don't think that even the british military take much if they need to take out what they consider an insurgent if there is in a crowd of people i think they carry on the right certainly the cia drone attacks of been known to do that. even when there's only one person in the vicinity we've

done it we've managed to kill one person and writer that they've been civilians this case is going on in the u.k. the moment blew by afghan civilians because their family members were killed. now management at a major u.k. nuclear reprocessing side or did many of its stay home on friday and we were to be on exactly what went wrong that may have given some workers an extra day off but it certainly startled the locals. also online for you know more than we think a scientist is suing the agency demanding disclosures on a mysterious new object you can see it right there on the martian surface says it's a wrong the scientists disagree. right on the scene. first rate. and i think that your.

orders. in. the in the. just twenty twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow when do the winter olympics reach top speed well just ask the athletes will be jumping into that boat sleighs and on to their skeletons as well and hopefully down the track at speeds of around one hundred thirty kilometers an hour he's defying not say went to examine the icy run up close. the olympic hopefuls and bumps later lucia and skeleton will be chasing the dream here at the sun being sent to them.

the movie cool runnings they use retelling of the true story of jamaica's bobsled team could perhaps resume t.-a in sunny salt sheep but i've always wondered how do they get the shape of the track to be the way it is i also how did they get it so smooth while i was on the onset today and it takes one polit to actually call out to the shape of the track and once that's done this big baby here comes into action and what it does is it was flooded like a vacuum machine so it's back up all over the office off of the drive and then moves that over the causes a for us in russia to have three up and slopes which help to slow speed and keep athletes safe but competitors can still pluck up to one hundred and thirty five kilometers an hour and get a trike level it takes a few called the to lose and educated convents i wasn't making my way all the way

to an olympic track without testing my carving skills say i dig. and this is how we get the tracks native. well. it really isn't as easy as it looks so you really need men like being a hero who know what they're doing have been trained to do what they're doing right now to actually carve out the ice now twenty seven of them including jamia how will we add during the olympics basically taking care of this entire tribe making sure that the bobsled and the sledging competitions go exactly the way it is because a truck is too big to get through the narrow lanes it's done the old fashioned way with this new shovel and a broom. for russians speeding down snow reuse is a fun part of growing up and that's why this venue has been called funky the

russian word. mom would say at the sankey sliding center. and we've got many more reports from giving you the best impression of the venue in and around the city of olympic dreams and just before the flame finally reaches such a mist in the next few days on air and of course online here you ok. how do you operate dillon but again i'm going to rumors that your sports such. as russo. and olympic hockey. is on. my fire. will get to i'll be martin break in the south shortly for al though the geneva two peace talks between syria's government and the opposition have yielded no breakthrough so far but have seen the two sides meeting face to face for the very first time of the conference which aims to find a political solution to the bloody civil war is set to resume now on the tenth of

february in a statement to the media the un's syria envoy lakhdar brahimi he acknowledged the slim but tangible progress to date sonnets have become used to sitting in the same room they have presented positions and listen to one another. progress is very slow indeed but the sides having gazed in an acceptable manner this is a very modest beginning but it is a beginning on which we can build. the gap between the sides remain why there is no use pretending otherwise nevertheless during go this questions i hope i observe a little bit of common ground perhaps more than the two sides themselves realize or recognize. by staying with syria into the hold up there we go activists

say at least sixteen people are being killed in government shelling of syria's northern hub of aleppo that's currently held by rebel forces and the u.k. based observatory for human rights said the bombardment happened on thursday however it took the organization some time to verify the reports aleppo's faced a major government offensive in a bid to reclaim eastern parts of the city that have remained under rebel control since twenty twelve. and thousands of israelis are gathered to pray at jerusalem's western wall to demonstrate against the ongoing israeli palestinian negotiations that called on the government to stop all talks with the palestinians saying that i want to hand any of that land the meeting brokered by the u.s. secretary of state john kerry could see the formation of a palestinian state in most of the west bank gaza and east jerusalem. now and any news if the mainstream media radar you'll be finding it next in our program

breaking the set abby martin just around the corner. take me to the ballgame and take me through the metal detector so wait that's not how the song goes well as the country changes sadly so must the national pastime they settle mariners released a statement that they like all of the teams for twenty fifteen are setting up metal detectors to screen all fans entering their stadium for get visions of hotdogs and home runs now everyone will be able to tell their grandkids about how their bags got searched because they had metal buttons at company name stadium baseball memories the team's management is also continuing their ban on bags larger than

forty by forty by twenty centimeters because if you're going to stick an explosive device it had better be compact their body maybe i'm jumping the gun metal detectors can't touch your genitals or do a naked body scan you're probably the least intrusive coming form of security scan then again think about it they want to prevent some terrorist from blowing up a densely packed crowd of people in the stadium so the m l b wants teams to create densely packed lines of people outside the stadium before the game starts well these security measures really stop a psychotic. terrorist murder nope but that's just my opinion. no hello martin and this is breaking the set so today the house of representatives passed the farm bill after two years of negotiating how many billions of dollars would be cut from food stamps after all is said and done the program will be cut by

eight billion dollars and about eight hundred fifty thousand households will now lose ninety dollars a month and food assistance here and that right a measly ninety dollars is what all the fuss was about the worry the bill also provides billions of dollars to subsidize major commercial farmers many of which are owned by the very congressional lawmakers who rally all the time against the nanny state i guess government handouts don't apply when you're the one cashing in now let's break the set. the please please take and leave very hard to take out. the. one that he ever had sex with that hurt there are those. that believe.

that. every year proximately twenty two thousand dolphins and porpoises are killed by fishermen in japanese waters and no town exemplifies the slaughter of these marine mammals more than the village of ties from september to april thais the fishermen engage in a tactic called drive hunting which herds pods and dolphin toward a cove which is then enclosed by nets to prevent escapes many of the dolphins are then killed by inserting a metal him into their necks severing their brain stems at least forty one bottlenose dolphins have already been killed so far this year according to conservationists group sea shepherd now you may be familiar with two shepherd from

the organizations t.v. show whale wars on animal planet which documents the group's efforts to stop the killing of whales and dolphins by commercial fisherman instead of merely protesting this practice to shepherd engages in direct action against these ships by sabotaging their efforts the group's founder captain paul watson has become an international threat and is that every entity from interpol to the japanese government after him as a result of watson spent fifteen months at sea eluding the capture of authorities or recently returned to the u.s. last october. to face an appeals court so here to discuss what's happening as well as the shepherds other direct action campaigns i'm joined now by captain paul watson himself thank you so much for coming on captain. thank you so you've been called everything from an eco terrorist to a pirate to an extreme conservationist how would you describe yourself and what you do. who are simply going out and doing what the governments refused to do i mean we have all the rules in the regulations in the laws to protect our oceans but they're

not being enforced and we don't protest we go out and intervene against illegal activities and what the japanese whaling fleet is doing in the southern ocean is killing whales in violation of an international moratorium on whaling they're taking endangered threatened species in an established and internationally established marine whale sanctuary and you know they shouldn't be doing this but the government there's rules to stop them but nobody wants to apply these rules against a powerful nation like japan and let's talk more specifically about the tactics the organizations i'm going to stop this slaughter and how successful they have been. our tactics have been very successful in fact the most efficient tactic is simply to block this turn slipway of the factory on this prevents them from loading dead whales or the can't load dead wheels they can't kill them and last year they took less than ten percent of their quota i think we're going to do even better this year the year before that seventeen percent we've saved well over six thousand whales in the last few years and.